Homework: Moggie Noir

Get out your notebooks!

Cats are the personification of intrigue. At times utterly transparent, they are more often agents of chaos. A moggie may lurk, her avenger eyes hidden in the shelter of a darkened doorway, but she is just as apt to look you dead in the eyes as she pushes your prized crystal decanter from the shelf, utterly unbothered by the glittering shards that you’d best clean up immediately. This beautiful contradiction draws the observer in with her seeming lack of concern for the eddies of mayhem that trail in her wake.

As infuriating as a kitty can be, we are bound to love her, and this is nothing new. Cats have sported with the wits of humans for so long that they figure heavily in the hieroglyphs of Egyptian pyramids. Delightfully, the ancient carving at Wadi Mathendous may be the first depiction of a cat fight. These two cats are squared off for what looks like an Edwardian bare-knuckle throw-down. Considering what a tangle of limbs and flying fur an actual cat fight involves, this depiction of rival kitties looks bloody civilized for its form and restraint. It’s easy to imagine the person or people who rendered that ancient carving chuckling as they worked at the notion of how dissonnant their depiction seems compared to cats doing what cats do. Do cats intrigue us? You betcha!

The call opens January 18 for volume 3 of the Moggie Noir anthology series. Volumes 1 and 2 were warmly received, despite or because of the persnickety nature of the felines presented therein. We’ve published stories of good cats, very bad cats, and cats on the road to redemption. The kitty in the story may be in need of rescue, but we’ve also seen heroic rescues performed by cats for other kitties, or even for humans. One clever author turned a contemporary domestic feline situation into an intrigue wherein the ultimate evil manifested in that most loathsome oranization: a homeowner’s association. Things were done. None were spared. Avenging kitty emerged victorious, her mistress saved, and peace was restored to the neighborhood. Like the payload of the wives of the man from St. Ives, Moggie Noir is a delightfully mixed bag.

If you’re thinking of submitting a story for Moggie Noir, please consider the tenor of the times whence sprang that genre of film. Believe it or not, many early Hollywood films were quite risque and overtly louche. The films considered classic film noir were created primarily in the 1940s and 1950s, when filmmakers were skirting the restrictions of the newly imposed oversight that governed what film content might be widely released in American cinemas. These films shared many stylistic traits that gave a look and feel of mystery and tension, and I hope you will use this model as a template to inspire your own choices with regard to the graphic nature (or lack thereof) of your choices in your writing. While violent things may occur, have a care that your action doesn’t tip into the range of overly graphic description, particularly of grisly scenes. We already know that something awful did or will happen, so don’t dwell on gruesome detail. Strive for the balance of creating and sustaining tension without tipping over into the horror genre. Claws notwithstanding, slasher stories need not apply. Likewise with salty language— imagine you’re tiptoeing daintily around those old school censors, and keep the language on the delicate side of a PG-13. In other words, allow your brilliant tale to awe your reader, rather than shocking them with explicitly disturbing detail.

A few examples of feline energy come directly from the film genre in the form of characters who are riveting, confounding, and even infuriating, but impossible to forget. For me, the ultimate catlike ways are personified in “Double Indemnity” by Barbara Stanwyck in her portrayal of Phyllis Dietrichson, a Very Bad Lady. Please forgive this if this is a stretch, but Jessica Rabbit is totally feline to this viewer. She is riveting to the gaze, and causes a lot of fuss despite her intentions. In the superb “House of Games” by David Mamet, Lindsay Crouse plays a character who exudes the cool reserve of a cat who watches, learns, and transforms into the only persona through which she may survive.

While I invoke the classic 1940s-1950s films, I hope the examples I list here will give the author an idea of the flexibility of my notion of Moggie Noir. I imagine a story set on earth and dating from 1900 forward to the present or relatively near future. Don’t let your good story be subsumed into fantastical world-building: let the reader’s own perception of noir fill in some of the gaps. Remember that you only have about 8000 words to dazzle the reader with your enthralling ideas, so don’t squander their attention with excessive description before you launch into the real action.

For those who submitted to Moggie Noirs 1 and 2, thank you for your delightful and inspiring tales, and for laying the groundwork for others who aspire to volume 3. I look forward to reading your submissions. Give yourself a goal of completing your work a few days before the deadline, then take a day off, and come back and re-read your writing with a fine-tooth comb, proofreading as you go, and questioning how the reader with fresh eyes will assay your work. You’re capable of creating great beauty and intrigue. Remember that you are not a cat, so don’t be stingy: share your brilliant work with the world.

Moggie Noir - Dames, Derringers, & Detectives
Edited by Rita Beeman

Fabulous tails. Do it again. Remember—Noir! Not SF, not Horror, but classic Noir. We’ll have homework.

Opens: 01/18/25
Closes: 03/23/25
Contracts: 04/05/25
Publication: 05/02/25

See all our open calls here!